1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a reusable collecting bag for human body wastes comprising a bag member formed by two film blanks with joined edges, an inlet opening provided in one of said film blanks, connecting elements surrounding said inlet opening for connection of the bag to a body orifice, a narrowed, elongated discharge portion starting at a proximal end at a distance from the inlet opening and extending between two end sections of said film blanks to a distal end, a discharge opening formed in said discharge portion in the vicinity of said distal end, said discharge portion being foldable and unfoldable by at least one folding along a folding line transverse to the longitudinal direction of the discharge portion between said distal and proximal ends to bring the discharge portion from an open unfolded condition to a closed folded condition and vice versa, and a locking device being provided at the discharge portion for locking the bag in said closed folded condition of the discharge portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
This type of drainable collecting bags are often used as ostomy bags. In the case of ileostomy patients and colostomy patients with uncontrolled release of faeces of a more or less fluid consistence, the collecting bag has to be emptied rather frequently, and the discharge portion thus has to be easy to open and re-close after emptying and at the same time provide a reliable and tight seal in operation, ie. between emptyings.
Several different designs of closure devices have been developed and are generally known.
For instance, GB patent applications Nos. 2 268 065 and 2 000 683 disclose collecting bag with closure devices, in which strips of the interlocking-elements type, such as Velcro®, are placed on each of the film blanks of the discharge portion and which after folding the discharge portion tightly are brought into contact with each other.
Further designs are shown in EP patent application No. 0 013 109, in which the outlet portion is folded and subsequently tucked into a gap formed by a semi-rigid strip attached to the bag wall, as well as published international patent application WO 99/25278, in which the locking means comprises an adhesive layer applied to at least one of two contact surfaces on the discharge portion designed to be brought into contact with each other upon folding of the discharge portion towards the closed position.
Other types of closure device are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,343 and published international patent applications Nos. WO 96/19164 and WO 99/66859, in which the discharge portion is rolled up on a locking clip fastened to one of the film blanks.
All of the above-mentioned prior art devices suffer, however, from the common disadvantage that at each emptying or discharge of the faecal or urine content of the bag contamination of the surface parts of the discharge portion adjacent to the discharge opening is hardly avoidable and that consequently washing or cleaning of such surface parts is necessary prior to reclosing of the discharge portion. Evidently such a cleaning operation is not only highly inconvenient and unpleasant to perform, but makes the handling of the bag cumbersome and causes severe problems in particular for users having reduced dexterity.